The Top Baby Names For Boys And Girls In Australia

Choosing the right name for your baby is tougher than it sounds. You probably don't want an overly weird name lest your child gets teased at school. On the other hand, nobody wants to be saddled with a boringly common name like John or Chris (thanks for nothing, Mum!)

Instead, most parents plump for something that sits between unique and familiar. If you're stumped for ideas, this list of 100 popular baby names - 50 boys' and 50 girls' - is well worth a look.

The following list was compiled by social research firm McCrindle based on data from the national registry of births. It ranks the 50 most popular boys' and girls' names from 2016, including the number of instances for each name.

Top girl names in Australia (2016)

Charlotte (1737)

Olivia (1670)

Amelia (1441)

Ava (1434)

Mia (1387)

Sophia (1298)

Chloe (1214)

Emily (1187)

Sophie (1150)

Grace (1122)

Lily/Lilly (1066)

Ella (1059)

Ruby (1042)

Isla (1027)

Isabella (1025)

Evie (989)

Zoe (977)

Matilda (955)

Harper (910)

Ivy (904)

Scarlett (904)

Maddison/Madison (852)

Sienna (831)

Evelyn (790)

Isabelle (772)

Lucy (756)

Emma (748)

Georgia (707)

Hannah (685)

Willow (675)

Zara (655)

Eva (643)

Abigail (589)

Aria (575)

Layla (573)

Mila/Milla (572)

Alice (496)

Imogen (473)

Violet (468)

Audrey (461)

Annabelle (459)

Jasmine (445)

Ellie (417)

Alexis (414)

Summer (413)

Mackenzie (412)

Savannah (408)

Stella (400)

Piper (383)

Sarah (374)

Top boy names in Australia (2016)

Oliver (2283)

William (1862)

Jack (1802)

Noah (1484)

Thomas (1404)

James (1334)

Jackson/Jaxon (1257)

Ethan (1247)

Lucas (1243)

Lachlan (1084)

Liam (1076)

Charlie (1075)

Henry (1062)

Mason (1058)

Alexander (1049)

Harrison (1048)

Samuel (1008)

Max (1000)

Cooper (979)

Isaac (956)

Jacob (919)

Levi (914)

Benjamin (912)

Leo (902)

Joshua (897)

Oscar (882)

Hudson (879)

Hunter (879)

Harry (835)

Ryan (821)

Xavier (821)

Archie (778)

Elijah (739)

Logan (712)

Riley (712)

George (696)

Sebastian (673)

Daniel (671)

Archer (670)

Patrick (617)

Tyler (604)

Nate (597)

Jayden (572)

Eli (558)

Flynn (547)

Lincoln (532)

Micheal (510)

Edward (508)

Luca (504)

Hugo (502)

As you can see from the above list, a whopping 2283 boys were named Oliver last year while 1737 girls were named Charlotte. If you're thinking about either of those names, you might want to have a rethink as there are going to be a lot of Olivers and Charlottes wandering playgrounds in years to come.

In fact, the same goes for most of the top ten. In 2016, an astonishing ten per cent of all registered births - close to 30,000 babies - were named Charlotte, Olivia, Amelia, Ava, Mia, Sophia, Chloe, Emily, Sophie, Grace, Lily/Lilly, Oliver, William, Jack, Noah, Thomas, James, Jackson/Jaxon, Ethan, Lucas or Lachlan.

If you're really fixated on one of the above names, you might want to consider alternative spellings to give it a modicum of originality. Just don't make it too wanky.

Names that entered the top 100 for the first time last year include Spencer, Jesse, Arlo, Harley, Darcy, Jett and Lewis (for boys) and Aurora, Billie, Eve, Daisy, Aisha, Leah, Gabriella, Maryam and Maggie (for girls.)

Need more baby name suggestions? You can read the full McCrindle report here.

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